D&D 5E Do you think they will go back to driders being a curse instead of a blessing?

[ForeverSlayer]

Up until the previous edition, being turned into a drider was seen as a punishment from Lolth to all drow who didn't receive her favour. Well in 4th edition all of that changed, it was then seen has being in Lolth's favour so it was considered a blessing.

Do you think they will go back to the original lore or will they retain the new?

 

[Wulfgar76]

I played through 30 levels of 4th Edition and was unaware of this - and I was even more unaware it was a criticism of 4e.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm divided on this.

I actually like this change*, but I have a feeling they are going back to the "original fiction" on this.


* Driders as champions, Succubus as devils, and Blue Dragons as coastal were all good changes.

 

[The Human Target]

I hope not.

The new version makes sense.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I've been listening to one of the R.A. Salvatore audiobooks lately and I was kind of wondering about this question myself. I had totally forgot that it was meant to be a punishment. It does seem a little bit odd to be a punishment. Even within the context of the book, a bunch of driders were shown to be easily more powerful and better than normal drow in every way. However, everyone considered it a punishment even though you became more spider like and their goddess was the queen of spiders and therefore you were closer to your goddess.

I understand the angle they are going for: Drow are great. Being anything but a Drow is horrible, even if it is a spider. It just seemed weird. I understand why they changed it in 4e.

 

[Wulfgar76]

Driders as champions, Succubus as devils, and Blue Dragons as coastal were all good changes.

Blue Dragons as 'Desert Dragons' always irritated me more than anything else in just about all of D&D.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

I've been listening to one of the R.A. Salvatore audiobooks lately and I was kind of wondering about this question myself. I had totally forgot that it was meant to be a punishment. It does seem a little bit odd to be a punishment. Even within the context of the book, a bunch of driders were shown to be easily more powerful and better than normal drow in every way. However, everyone considered it a punishment even though you became more spider like and their goddess was the queen of spiders and therefore you were closer to your goddess.

I understand the angle they are going for: Drow are great. Being anything but a Drow is horrible, even if it is a spider. It just seemed weird. I understand why they changed it in 4e.

Back then you were seen as a mockery. If a drider is supposedly superior to drow then how come all drow aren't turned into drider? The problem I see here is it's pure meta-gaming. You and a few others look at the mechanical benefits of being a drider.

2nd edition The drow of the Underdark:

Driders ór Misfit Drow

In the dangerous societies of Lolth-wor-
shipping drow, there are a few individu-
als who openly defy the Spider Queen, or
whose actions show a possible disregard
for her will, aims, and the safety of her
clergy and the drow community. These
"suspect" drow usually perish through
their own actions, or are driven into exile,
where they die at the hands of some
predator of the Underdark.
A few, however, manage to escape the
wrath of their betters. These drow are a
danger to Lolth - particularly if they show

signs of wanting to defy clerical author-
ity, or change the balance of power and
wreck the community (by ending House
rivalries, for example, or allowing toler-
ance of the other drow faiths). All drow
wizards are considered potential haz-
ards, and must undergo The Test to
determine their loyalty both to the nobil-
ity and the Spider Queen.

The abduction of wizards at about the
time they reach 6th level, and conducting
a test of their loyalties is a paramount
duty of the priestesses of Lolth. (Loyalty,
of course, varies from being to being, at
the willósome say whimóof the Queen
of Spiders.)

Testing always involves a thorough
magical mind-reaming, so that no decep-
tion is possible. In rare cases, the individ-
ual must be magically transported to
Abyssal layers controlled by Lolth, for her

personal attention. Some die during The
Test, or must be destroyed, but it is the
intent of Lolth not to waste the energies of
the ìunfaithful.î
Drow who fail the test are transformed
by the will of Lolth into driders. In
Faerun, the transformation involves a
magical ceremony performed by a priest-
ess and overseen by yochlol (see ìMon-

stersî for description). The power for and
control of the transformation comes from
Lolth herself, through the yochlol. Perma-
nent alteration of a drow into a drider
cannot be done independently by the
drow.



Embittered by their fate, driders are

driven out of drow communities, or
penned in sealed-off or guarded areas of
the Underdark to fend for themselves
(and slay intruders who might otherwise

go on to penetrate the drow community).
Many are driven by the desire to die,
preferably in battle with drow. All are
driven by a spider-like thirst for blood;

they must consume blood at least once
every 4 days, or lose 1d6 hit points per
day. This loss is cumulative, continuing
until a live creatureís blood is ingested.
Hit points are restored at the rate of 1d6
points per hit die or level of the meal.
This death wish, coupled with the rage
and hopelessness most driders feel, re-
sults in a near-berserker fury in com-
bat(save versus fear at +4, and no morale
check). Driders are violent, aggressive, tireless
hunters, governed by shame, hatred, and
fear, who delight in nothing more than
slaying drow. They rarely associate with
drow or other driders, though occasion-
ally other outcasts or even drow commu-
nities will come to some task-for-reward
agreement with a drider or two. Such
agreements usually seem to end with the
death of the drider, due to treachery or
the impossibility of the task. A surprising
number of driders take precautions that
carry one or more drow down to death
with them in these instances.
Most driders hunt alone, or in the
company of 2d6 huge spiders (10%
chance). They are tireless stalkers, for
hunting is all that is left to most, to give
purpose to their lives. Their blood-thirst
and desire to do the maximum harm
(especially to drow) leads most driders to

arrange many traps, missile-caches
(such as boulders that can be dislodged
from ledges), and ambush sites around
their habitual lairs. These are to discour-
age drow hunting bands (drow youths
often try to prove themselves, or enjoy a
little sport, by drider-baiting or -behead-
ing).

A lone drider can surprise opponents
half the time (any roll of 1-5 on a d10), by
moving as silently as possible. Its hear-
ing, smell, and sight are improved, and it
can flawlessly climb walls (although it is
too heavy to cling to ceilings)

All elves take a dim view of driders. For
drow, fear is paramount; in most elves of
surface races, disgust predominates.
Peaceful dealings with drow are therefore
rare and precarious, at best.
Driders retain the power of speech, and
all linguistic knowledge. They lose the
ability to communicate 60% of the drow
ìsilent tongueî through their transforma-
tion (although they still understand it
perfectly). Driders who work with other
driders often work out additional ìcodeî
signals, unknown to drow, for use when
dealing with drow and other dangerous
foes.

Driders are sexless; Lolth wants their
existence to be a series of torments, not to
create a race of enemies to the drow.
A wish or more powerful spell is the
only way to escape drider-form. Lesser

magics can neither put a being into
drider form for more than 2d4 rounds
(regardless of usual spell performance),
or shift a drider into another form for
even an instant.
Certain driders roam many places and
planes (and even the deep reaches of
space, aboard pirate ships), searching for
magic powerful enough to overcome
Lolthís transformation. Having nothing
to lose, they are truly dangerous foes.

 

[MortalPlague]

If, in real life, someone came along and gifted humans with an extra pair of arms, not everybody would be lining up to get them. It's possible for something to make someone more powerful and to be a curse.

 

[The Human Target]

How come all drow aren't turned into driders?

All drow aren't worthy of being driders.

 

[Wulfgar76]

While being physically more powerful than Drow, I always understood Driders to be more akin to a semi-mindless, tortured Frankenstein's Monster. A freak rather than a favored being.